Mostly Murders

“As children, Alma entered Jasper’s life as an ill-mannered vagrant with an accordion and a parrot”

An absurd, dark comedy, following a small group of young people who spend the summer working in Sitka, Alaska. Alma is beautiful, talented and charismatic, and her cousin Jasper is obsessed with her, and unaware of the fact that her “friend” Emily is actually her lover.

What follows is an alcohol- and drug-fuelled roller coaster ride on a fatal collision course as bad decisions and volatile personalities clash and old trauma resurfaces.

Alma Mendoza is a shocking, madcap story of love twisted into obsession, hate and destruction, and of the absolute power of attraction of a total psychopath. It has surreal, urban legend vibes, like what you would be left with after a story has been told over and over by the locals in the pub, or what you might hear from a group of teenagers trying to scare and impress each other with a legend that has gained a life of its own, long after the actual, original story played out.

Not for the faint of heart, or for readers who don’t approve of explicit language. If you, on the other hand, are on the lookout for a powerful, raw and rough, youth-gone-wild, dark comedy with a crazy storyline, elements of a psychological thriller and an utterly unhinged character who is equal parts compelling and repulsive, give this one a go.

I listened to the audiobook of this novel, and I enjoyed the narration by Mikayla Klien, who did a good job of adding emotion and drama to the narration.

Many thanks to Steve Zappa for the Audible audiobook code for this novel. I received this copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Dark comedy – Psychological thriller – Audiobook